McDonald's dumps Heinz over ex-Burger King CEO

When Warren Buffet's Berkshire Hathaway bought Heinz last June, they made Bernardo Hees CEO; previously, Hees had served as CEO of Burger King. McDonald's is apparently not happy about this: they've announced that they're dumping Heinz products in their stores. I wonder if they think Hees will feed competitive intelligence back to BK about McD's operations? Presumably he still has a massive chuck of BK stock, and you could probably derive a lot of inside dope about McDonald's by having precise insight into the supply chain for a critical element of its business.

Or maybe they're just vindictive corporate barons who take the rah-rah team-sports game of company loyalty way too seriously.

"As a result of recent management changes at Heinz, we have decided to transition our business to other suppliers over time," McDonald's said in a statement.

"We have spoken to Heinz and plan to work together to ensure a smooth and orderly transition," said McDonald's, which has more than 34,000 restaurants around the globe.

A spokesman for Heinz did not immediately respond to requests for comment.